Tali Elfassy

Asian Americans (AAs) suffer from the myth of the model minority, which posits that AAs are socio-economically advantaged thus obscuring real health disparities. Yet AAs in New York City (NYC) have rates of poverty that closely resemble that of other ethnic minority populations such as Blacks and Hispanics. Given that low socio-economic status (SES) is    a fundamental cause of poor health, AA residents of NYC are therefore at increased risk of adverse mental and physical well-being.  Further, AAs with low SES often live in neighborhoods of low SES—which can also negatively influence health. However, research examining the relationship between the neighborhood socio-economic environment with mental and physical health outcomes among AAs is limited.  The current proposal aims to address this gap. To do so we will utilize data from multiple waves of the NYC Community Health Study (CHS). The CHS is a cross-sectional survey conducted annually and representative of the NYC population as a whole. It includes information on AA sub-groups. Specifically, we will determine whether neighborhood SES is associated with mental health (depressive symptoms and psychological distress) and cardiometabolic health (obesity, hypertension, and diabetes) among AA residents of NYC using multi-level modeling approaches. This research will directly improve our knowledge of how the neighborhood environment influences health in AA communities and inform community intervention strategies. It will also result in preliminary data to support a future R01 grant submission related to cardiometabolic health in AA populations.